Bowden: 20 years Later; One more Game to go

I had the opportunity to see and hear FSU Head Football Coach Bobby Bowden speak four times in a sportswriting span of 20 years and was on hand for probably his final game-related oration at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Gator Bowl Breakfast held Tuesday at the First Baptist Church of Downtown Jacksonville. Bowden not only is an icon of football tactics and motivation, but a whimsical master of getting to the "quipped" point.

In 1990-ish, Bowden heavily recruited in the Live Oak area connected to then 3A powerhouse Suwannee High School's 4-time state champion Bulldogs under the tutelage of former coach Mike Pittman. Bowden would annually visit one of the many steepled churches in Suwannee County and talk hometown to the locals to trust him to further the football ambitions of their sons, mainly Matt Frier and Billy Ragans. Bowden always had a coy smile and a quick wit to go with his football IQ and eased the minds of the mainly rural locals that their sons were safe under his wing.

Not three or four years ago, here in Clay County, while visiting the Thrasher Horne Center in Orange Park, Bowden was invited to speak at the Seminoles of Clay County club fundraiser and still maintained his folksy acumen for restful sleep among football hopefuls. I remember myself and Clay County Leader newspaper owner Sara Boe were sneaking out the side door of the Thrasher about the same time as Bowden was apparently finishing up. Unbeknownst to us, we were on a collision course in one of the hallways. Upon our crossing of paths, Bowden astutely looked up at me and said,"Aren't you that boy from Live Oak's newspaper?" Fifteen years later, he was still vivid in his recollection of the visits to Live Oak and of my writings of those visits.

Today, Tuesday, at the FCA Breakfast, Bowden again wowed the crowd with his engaging style, but I believe he has now shifted from football prognosticator of his upcoming season to a healthy regard to his being thankful to having a hand in building strong fathers, brothers, uncles and nephews and primarily families, in a compassionately silent room of muscle-bound creators of chaos. I believe his stories of his own childhood recollections; he quipped of his front yard which at a young age he believed the full 100 yard football sized field was, upon an aged visit, was merely 20 yards long; his pastor's testing of his faith with the question of would he walk across a plank over a deep chasm for the safety of his child to which Bowden jokingly asked, "Which child?" and his astounding memory of his coaching chronology; which he time and time gave credit to Mrs. Bowden with inspiring his inquiring ADs of schools such as Samford Univ, Georgia College, West Virginia and ultimately FSU (They hired me because they liked her") inspired many a Pop Warner or high schooler in attendance to follow his lead.

We often wonder as we age who's mind we have graced in a positive way. Bowden, I think, is happy in his wonderings.